Italia y los días navideños

I actually wrote this blog in two parts: most of it on my plane ride home from Spain and the other part I finished up today. This blog post is late because I was too busy to write one the week of finals and I haven’t had much time to send it out since I got home. But here it is, enjoy!

Parte 1:

Currently I’m on my way home from Spain heading towards Dallas from Madrid. It’s unreal. Maybe because I’m going on the 13^th hour of traveling and I still have 9 more to go… But I really can’t comprehend that this semester has come to an end. I can officially say that I made the right choice in coming to Spain for an entire year—thanks Juanka, I owe you one! (Juanka is my Spanish Advisor back at Lewis & Clark College that pushed and pushed and pushed for me to go to Spain for a year rather than a semester). He was right.

I said goodbye to many people from my program this week and I can’t even imagine being in their shoes and coming home for good, I almost cried because I’m coming home for two weeks…who knows what kind of sob-fest will incur when I come home in May. I can’t even think about it. But on a lighter note…I went to Italy last week!

Italia (diciembre 12 – 17)

Seafood pasta dinner

I can’t even describe how amazing Italy was. Italian will be my next language. I could actually understand a lot of it because it’s so similar to Spanish (how the heck is French part of this family?!…I definitely can’t understand French to save my life).  I’m pretty sure I gained like 3 pounds in Italy too—no regrets though, far too worth it. I ate pizza, lots of risotto, seafood pasta, prosciutto, Italian desserts and amazing coffee.

Kiersten’s Italian Family

Kiersten's family

I went to Italy with Kiersten and met her mom and grandparents in Venice. Her grandmother, Marisa,  is Italian and married Kiersten’s grandfather (an American who was in the army) in Italy and they moved to America together after getting married. But Marisa's family all still live just outside of Venice in small little towns. Kiersten’s great-grandmother is still alive so I even got to meet her too. All of Kiersten’s family were incredible! It was especially nice to meet her mom and grandparents. But her extended family were also incredibly gracious and welcoming. Kiersten and I stayed with Marisa’s brother while Marisa, her husband Jeff and Kiersten’s mom Paula stayed with Marisa’s sister. But we all met up and did stuff together every day.  We went to a huge family lunch on of the days (30 people!) and it was super cool. And it was the longest lunch I’d ever been to (noon to 5 p.m.) and we didn’t once stop eating—the food just kept coming. I had a blast!

Venezia

Bridge of Sighs

gondola!

San Marcos Square

Teeniest and best cup of coffee ever!

We did take the train into Venice on the first full day we had in Italy. Venice is truly a unique city the way the water surrounds the buildings. I’ve never seen anything like it. It was absolutely beautiful. We took a waterbus to San Marcos square and cathedral. We later had lunch, went shopping, and took pictures at the Bridge of Sighs. But I have to say, I froze my butt off in Venice. It was all of 30 degrees, if that. Still worth it J

San Marcos Cathedral

Bassano del Grappa and Marostica

Christmas tree sighting!

The next few days we explored the towns near Kiersten’s family where her grandma grew up. In Bassano we went to a really cool market, went shopping, and ate mini pizzas. In Marostica there’s an old castle that we climbed, but we didn’t get to see much of a view because it was super foggy. We also ate some gelato, which was superb to say the least!

gelato!

Mini pizzas!

Marisa, me, Jeff, and Kiersten

Exámenes finales 

And then sadly I came back to one of the hardest finals of my life the day after our trip (Kiersten and I did have to study on the trip—I know some of you think I’m just vacationing all the time, I promise I’m not ;) ) I have no idea how the exam went. It was for my History class where the professor told us, a week before the exam, that Americans are stupid and never pass his test because we’re lazy and don’t study. I can only hope I proved him wrong because that surely wasn’t reassuring to hear.  

Parte 2:

Christmas Eve

Now I’ve been home for a week trying to fight jet-lag, battling a cold, seeing friends, and hanging out with the family. It’s nice being home, although nothing seems to have changed much. However, some people say I’ve changed—my Dad says he can see that I’ve grown up a lot. I hope I’ve changed a bit, I don’t know if I feel more grown-up but I certainly feel a lot more independent. And I’m proud of myself for that. I’m very excited to return to Spain for my second semester this Friday.

Decorating gingerbread cookies with my friends

Today I’m making seafood paella for my family and heading to a friend’s house to celebrate New Year’s Eve.

¡Espero que hayáis tenido una Navidad estupenda y os deseo un Año Nuevo muy feliz!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and I wish you all a very Happy New Year!

More exciting blogs to come in the New Year! As always, thanks for reading!